The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
23 July 2019
TURKMENISTAN: Conscientious objector jailed for four years
In the third jailing of a conscientious objector in 2019, 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness Bahtiyar Atahanov was jailed for four years. This is the longest jail term known to have been handed to a conscientious objector, because the authorities deemed him a soldier after forcibly conscripting him. Other prisoners of conscience have received far longer jail terms.
19 July 2019
KAZAKHSTAN: 108 administrative prosecutions in January-June 2019 - list
Administrative prosecutions to punish exercising freedom of religion or belief appear to be rising. At least 108 cases were brought between January and June to punish unapproved worship, sharing faith, selling religious literature and items in shops or online, or using "Amen" in mosque worship. In three cases, courts ordered seized religious literature to be destroyed.
11 July 2019
KAZAKHSTAN: Fined for worship, funeral prayer rooms
Bolat Isabayev was fined for leading a home worship meeting on the most sacred day annually for Jehovah's Witnesses. A court fined two ethnic Azeri imams in Zhambyl Region for maintaining funeral prayer rooms without state approval. Police fined or tried to fine up to 20 members of Karaganda's Revival Protestant Church after raiding a birthday party.
5 July 2019
KYRGYZSTAN: "Registration only gives you permission to exist"
Kyrgyzstan has registered over 60 communities, most of them Protestant, since December 2018. But some Jehovah's Witness communities still cannot get state permission to exist, while Ahmadi Muslims remain banned. Amid physical attacks on and burial denials to non-Muslims,"giving registration does not guarantee that people can exercise their freedom of religion and belief".
21 June 2019
KAZAKHSTAN: "We don't have censorship", but three books banned
Kazakhstan has banned three books by authors associated with the banned Tabligh Jamaat Muslim missionary movement. A Prosecutor's Office official claimed to Forum 18 that the three books include calls to "extremism and terrorism", but neither the court nor "expert analyses" backed this. "We don't have censorship, we just check the content of religious publications," another official claimed.
4 June 2019
TAJIKISTAN: Detention extended, no Bible reading allowed
A Khujand court has extended Jehovah's Witness pensioner Shamil Khakimov's pre-trial detention for another month. His "crime", for which he was arrested in February, seems to be that he is thought to lead Khujand's Jehovah's Witness community. Against international human rights standards, he is not allowed to read his Bible.
3 June 2019
TURKMENISTAN: Second 2019 conscientious objector jailing
The 23-year-old Jehovah's Witness Muhammetali Saparmyradov was jailed for one year in March for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. He has joined 11 other jailed conscientious objectors in the labour camp in Seydi. Labour camp officials refused to discuss their prison conditions with Forum 18.
28 May 2019
TURKMENISTAN: In Ramadan, Muslims fear "extremism" accusations
Muslims increasingly fear being branded "extremists" if they visibly fast or mark Ramadan. Turkmenistan has jailed numerous Muslims on vague "extremism" accusations, including to punish them for meetings to study their faith. One Muslim stopped going to mosque after police summoned him. "Who is more important, Allah or the President?" an officer asked him.
21 May 2019
UZBEKISTAN: Torture, no pardon, for prisoner of conscience
Officials tortured Muslim prisoner of conscience Khayrullo Tursunov over six hours in an attempt to extract false testimony and ridiculed him for thinking of applying for parole. A Shia Muslim jailed for having Shia texts has been given parole, but officials know of no legal Shia texts.
9 May 2019
TURKMENISTAN: Human Rights Committee finds former prisoners' rights violated
The UN Human Rights Committee found Turkmenistan wrongly jailed three Jehovah's Witnesses for having religious literature, being at a religious meeting, and conscientious objection to military service respectively. The Foreign Ministry claimed to Forum 18 the country is working with the Human Rights Committee, but put the phone down when asked whether Committee Decisions would be implemented.
29 April 2019
UZBEKISTAN: Supreme Court challenge to student hijab ban
Two women are awaiting Supreme Court hearings in their challenges to the ban on female students wearing hijab in Tashkent's International Islamic Academy and its secondary school. The Academy expelled Luiza Muminjanova in 2018, while Abdukakharova was allowed back after appealing. The state created the state-run Academy in 2018 from pre-existing state-run Muftiate and state institutions.
25 April 2019
UZBEKISTAN: Muslim activist jailed for criticising Muftiate
Muslim activist Tulkun Astanov still faces criminal charges launched by the SSS secret police. He completed a 15-day jail term on 23 April, and was freed the following day. He was jailed the same day Deputy Chief Mufti Mansur accused him of being a "hooligan" and disrespectful to Muftiate "spiritual leadership".